Front Row Folgen

Keanu Reeves returns to cinemas in John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, reprising his role as the super-assassin. He takes pride in performing most of the action scenes and discusses working with the director Chad Stahelski, himself a former stuntman. Paul Gambaccini remembers the singer-turned-movie-star Doris Day whose death at the age of 97 was announced today. Research recently published in the British Medical Journal reports that regular sexual activity between couples is on the decline. The authors cite 'diversionary stimuli' such as smartphones and Netflix as distractions that could be impeding intimacy. Culture writers Louis Wise and Karen Krizanovich explore whether art can function as an effective aphrodisiac. Presenter Shahidha Bari Producer Jerome Weatherald

On the night of 18th April, 2015 a 90-foot fishing boat packed with migrants sent out a distress signal. It collided with a vessel responding to that call and sank between Libya and the Italian island of Lampedusa. Between 770 and 1,100 people drowned. Now the wreck has been raised and installed at the Arsenale, the historical naval yards in Venice - as an art work. Tim Marlow, director of exhibitions at the Royal Academy, considers the controversy surrounding this, and discusses with John Wilson other works that have drawn his attention at the Biennale. Elizabeth Macneal’s debut novel The Doll Factory, the subject of a bidding war between publishers, is the story of a young woman who finds herself part of the circle around the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. The author was also inspired by her fascination with the Victorian taste for collecting. She talks to Front Row about creating a character in charge of her own destiny, about the book’s success - and about her other career, being a potter. At the Venice Biennale, the British artist and author Edmund de Waal introduces us to his two-part project, Psalm, which opened this week at different venues. At the 16th-century Ateneo Veneto he has created a Library of Exile made of porcelain which holds almost 2000 books by exiled writers, from Ovid to the present day. To the north of the island, at the Jewish Museum, he’s installed a series of porcelain, marble and gold works that reflect the literary and musical heritage of the 500-year-old Ghetto.Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Julian May

Mark Haddon is the author of the phenomenally successful The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time. He talks about his first novel in seven years, The Porpoise, in which he takes on the epic tale of Pericles.At this year’s Venice Biennale, the contentious American artist, Jimmie Durham, will be given the prestigious Golden Lion award for Lifetime Achievement. Art critic Ariella Budick discusses the controversy surrounding the artist whose biography is subject to as much speculation as his art.New discoveries in the tomb of Saexa, an Anglo-Saxon prince, have led archaeologists to dub him the Tutankhamun of Essex. Among the artefacts buried with him are a copper flagon from Syria, beautiful blue glass beakers and a lyre, inlaid with garnets. Sophie Jackson of the Museum of London Archaeology considers what they reveal of the cultural life and taste of people living here in the 580s. Shakespeare’s Globe’s Artistic Director Michelle Terry discusses their new productions of Henry IV parts 1 & 2 and Henry V. She talks about her role as actor-manager and about working with an diverse ensemble cast who collectively bring the show together.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Sarah Johnson